Remember Fridays with Feenie?

For two years she attended preschool and Fridays were her day off so would hang out with Grandma regularly. From chasing wild turkeys to baking - they did it all together. I'm so happy that they had a special bond and enjoyed each other's company often. I know that Grandma looked forward to Fridays just as much as Feenie did.

Now Feenie (as an afternoon kindergartner) has Dziadek in the mornings.

Taken with what I assume was a self timer, while fishing yesterday.

Just like with her time with Grandma, she begs for the next "playdate" with Dziadek. But unlike Grandma, that was easy going; Dziadek is a tad bit more stubborn and hard to please. I have vivid memories of his stern demeanor teaching me math that resulted in tears on my side. America has taught him well and today he should be the spokesperson for the saying, "Grandparenting is a second chance to get it right". When I was growing up he didn't have mornings open for fishing but now he actively seeks out opportunities to get together with his grandchildren.

The titles of his weekly "Morning with Feenie" playdates photo albums on Facebook make me smile.

Morning with moja piekna wnuczka Jozefinka (21 photos)

Zlapalismy Raccoon, zroblismy zdjecia i zawiezlismy do lasu.

I'm sure that the memories of Fridays with Feenie and Mornings with Dziadek will live on forever in everyone's hearts.

I know that I'm not the only one that "convinced" their husband to do some handywork on Mother's Day because my best friend's husband was doing yard work at the same time that my hubs was hanging photos. It should come to no surprise that my best friend and I also convinced a group of third-graders to pay for our amazing hypnotizing skills at sleep-away camp in 1986. We made a fortune and later paid for it by scrubbing toilets with tooth brushes.

Regardless. The framed photos that have been gathering dust for nine months...

are now hung. Well at least 20 out of the 40 framed photos were hung.

We had a good start until my husband called quits (introducing our children to new words) and I had to wash the floor, on my hands and knees, before company came over to get rid of all the evidence of last minute home improvement. Feeling like you are slacking in hanging beautiful family photos? No worries! I have not printed photos since Feenie's first birthday and now she is six, so we have a lot of work ahead of us.

I need to brush up on my third-grade-sleep-away-camp-amazing-hypnotizing-skills to get the job done before the next Mother's Day. Did you convince your husband to do some last minute home improvements on Mother's Day - or is it just my BFF and I that made our husbands work?

"I'm not going to tell you all of my problems, if you are going to stay up all night and lecture me all day!" I told my mother when I was sixteen and then once again last week. "I'm your mother. It's my job to worry. Flood me with your problems." she said.

One of the driving forces (beside my hubs) that got me through this tough year has been my mother with her constant advice, love and attention. "How is this tough? You have a loving family. A house. Incredible children. An amazing husband. There are people in this world without that."

"But, Mama. I never imagined starting all over again in my mid 30's."

"I did and I was fine."

Touche. My mother in her 30's convinced my father that life outside of Communism was better and with the $300 my father made scraping metal in Austria for months, it was just enough money to start a new life in the USA with the help of Catholic Charities for plane tickets.

I can not imagine taking my children overseas to live in a foreign country with $300 in my pocket. It makes our "life changing" trip from Cleveland to Chicago seem pathetic. Almost laughable. Not even comparable. And that, my mother's confidence for a better life, was one of my biggest driving forces to do the same for us. Thank you, Mamusia. Our lives are a million times better off then they were a year ago.

We've come a long way, and I would have never made it through, without you around.

Happy Mother's Day, Mamusia. My Mama.